Towards an evolution in the relationship to work and unemployment? Unemployed people's points of view and workers’ discourses

peer reviewedProfessional career paths are nowadays marked by multiple transitions. Job loss is one of the most frequent causes of professional transitions. Given this emphasis, recent studies questioned a possible evolution of the “work” norm, the emergence of an “unemployment norm” and its effects on job seekers. This paper proposes to contribute to the discussion on the current evolution of the relation to work and unemployment. At first, the results of a study with 500 unemployed people, who completed a questionnaire on work centrality and on the perception of work, will be presented. Then, a discourse analysis on the meaning and meaningfulness of work of 15 working people will be discussed. The results show the central function of work and the relative normalization of unemployment